


Make it Memorable

by Slytherinsheadbitch91



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, F/F, First Christmas, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 01:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13202784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherinsheadbitch91/pseuds/Slytherinsheadbitch91
Summary: Prompt Used: First ChristmasSummary: It’s JJ’s first Christmas without Will after they split up, she’s spending it home alone with Henry or so she thinks.





	Make it Memorable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quickaszoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quickaszoe/gifts).



> Sorry it took so long for me to get this up! I hope you like it.
> 
> This was written as part of Christmas_Fic_Exchange_2017

If there was one thing JJ could always guarantee on it was that Christmas in her house growing up was the best time of year. In the week running up to the big day all the Jareau family gathered at her parents house and they’d have big meals, share stories of the past year by the crackling fire and every single year at least one of the children would fall asleep in their hot chocolate, it happened so regularly that JJ’s Mom made sure there were always plenty of paper towels and bleach on hand to clean it up, nowadays JJ was almost certain that her Mom just had a chocolate colored rug that she’d put down and all the kids sat on so if spillage happened it wasn’t such a big deal.  
JJ sighed as she looked out the window, the snow was still coming down thick and fast and so this year, the year she really could have done with visiting her parents, she’d have to skip the Christmas festivities as there were no flights in or out of Virginia, despite her best efforts. She had called her Mom to break the news to her earlier that day and although the disappointment was obvious in both of their voices they’d arranged to skype on Christmas Day so Henry was able to see his family. At 2 years old he was still a little young to understand what was going on but he loved to see his Grandma’s smiling face on the big screen TV when JJ hooked it up.  
This year JJ felt it was even more important than ever that Henry got to see his family, Christmas Day would be three months since Will had walked out on JJ, he’d been having an affair with one of the women he worked with in New Orleans and when JJ had discovered this she’d been heartbroken.  
What followed had been a furious argument between the couple and in the end JJ had told Will to just go back to New Orleans and they’d figure out co-parenting from different states once things had settled a little and they weren’t so angry with each other. Three months down the line JJ was still seething and hurt, she’d barely spoken to her ex-husband beyond finding out where to send his mail and to inform him that Henry had been ill and ended up in hospital when he broke his arm trying to run before he was able to walk properly. It had been agreed that Will could send Henry’s Christmas presents to him but they didn’t want to confuse the toddler by having Will come to visit.  
“Momma?” Henry’s small, sleepy voice shook JJ out of her thoughts and she smiled down at her son on the floor, lying on his playmat. She walked over to him and scooped him up, holding him close and swaying gently.  
“Come on little man, time to go to bed.” JJ cooed, carrying him up to his bedroom. “What story do you want tonight?” She asked as she put him down to dig in his drawers for some clean PJ’s for him to wear.  
“DUCKIE!” Henry squealed, toddling over to his book shelf and pulling half the books off of it in a bid to find the one he wanted.  
“Ok ok The Ugly Duckling it is but first Mr, pajamas!” JJ chuckled, pulling out his favourite dinosaur onesie to hopefully ensure a smooth change from clothes to pajamas, something Henry didn’t always like.  
Thankfully Henry didn’t seem to be in the mood to fight JJ this evening and was happy to pull his clothes off, eager to show his Momma just how much of a big boy he was getting undressed by himself. He hadn’t mastered the art of putting his clothes on though, not for lack of trying and after a few minutes of struggling to figure out where each arm and leg was supposed to go he let out a huff and held his onesie out to JJ.  
“Momma hep!” He said, insistently and JJ shook her head fondly, holding back a giggle as she sat on the floor next to him and helped him. “Fankoo Momma.”  
“You are very welcome little man and well done for trying so hard, Momma is very proud of you.” JJ smiled, pulling Henry into her lap and picking the requested story book up. “Are you ready for your bedtime story?” A small nod from Henry and JJ cleared her throat. “Okay then, Once upon a time there was…”  
Within the first few pages of the book Henry was fast asleep in JJ’s lap and she slowly put the book down and picked Henry up to tuck him into bed. With a kiss to his forehead JJ slipped out of his bedroom, turning on the baby monitor on her way out, heading back down towards the kitchen to pour herself a small glass of wine and grab the last of Henry’s Christmas presents with the intent of finishing her prep before Christmas Eve the next morning.  
As JJ settled herself in front of the fire her mobile chimed to let her know she has a text message, she pulled it up and smiled as she saw Emily’s name at the top of her screen.  
Hey Jayje, what you up to? Snow still hasn’t stopped yet has it? Love ya, Em xx  
She took a sip of her wine and shot a text back to Emily.  
Just sorting the rest of little man’s presents out and having a glass of wine now he’s in bed. Nope not stopped yet, if it doesn’t let up we may end up snowed in for Christmas! What about you? Love ya babe, JJ xx  
She put her mobile down next to her and started to wrap the still rather impressively large pile of Christmas presents for Henry, everything from new clothes, to books and somewhere in the pile there was a new trike as well as he’d recently outgrown his current one.  
Another mouthful of wine and JJ pulled the next present, a ball pen and balls, towards her and picked up the next roll of paper. Her mobile dinged again and she picked it up to read the text that had come through.  
Sounds fun! Have you spoilt him extra this year? It must be hard considering everything that’s happened this year. I wish I knew what to do to help :( yeah being snowed in alone with a toddler doesn’t sound fun! But at least it would guarantee you get to spend Christmas with him, there’s no way Hotch would get us to work in this, he’s probably looking forward to spending some quality time with Jack anyway. xx  
JJ chuckled, she thought of the prospect of being snowed in with Henry and she flinched a little, he was a handful at the best of times let alone when he ends up being cooped up for days on end.  
Oh God don’t! You know how much of a handful that boy is when I get the chance to take him out for a run around, I dread to think what he’ll be like if we can’t get out! May need a girls night out if so just to recover! Sure we can get Hotch or Spence to babysit so we can go out with Garcia. xx  
Another hour and JJ had all but finished the pile in front of her, as well as another glass of wine.  
She yawned and looked up at the clock, it was almost 10pm now and JJ was determined to get a earlyish night for once. Henry was still fast asleep and she hadn’t heard a peep from him since she put him down, she stretched and stood up, moving the pile of presents back to the closet and picked up her wineglass and mobile. She put her glass on the counter in the kitchen and made her way up to bed, undressing and pulling her nightgown on before sending one last text to Emily.  
For once I’m in bed before midnight! Henry is still sound asleep so taking full advantage of it. Talk to you in the morning, maybe we can meet for coffee if the snow lets up? Love ya babes. Xx  
She rolled over and didn’t even hear her mobile go off when Emily text her back saying goodnite. The next thing she knew it was 5am and Henry’s voice came floating down the hallway as he started singing to himself. JJ smiled sleepily but groaned and rolled over, hoping that Henry would go back to sleep on his own. Another blissful hour of sleep and Henry came bounding in and jumped on the bed, landing on JJ’s back as she’d slept on her front after being woken up at 5.

 

“MOMMA WAKE UP!!!” Henry said, bouncing up and down on her back.  
“Henryyyyy.” JJ whined, not liking being used as a human trampoline. “Momma loves you but not when you bounce on my back like that.” She grumbled, rolling over and catching her son before he fell off the bed.  
“Sorry Momma.” Henry said, blushing and snuggling into her side. “It’s Christmas Eve Momma!” He grinned at her, pulling the blankets over the both of them, turning the bed into a mini blanket fort.  
Despite it only being 6am JJ couldn’t help but smile at her son's antics, he was still such a happy boy, it may have been confusing times for them both and Henry still often asked about Daddy and why wasn’t he still at home with them but Henry never lost the spark of childhood innocence that never failed to warm JJ’s heart. She grabbed hold of him and started to tickle his stomach causing the small boy to squeal with delight and squirm in her arms, trying desperately to tickle her back but not being able to reach her properly.  
“Momma stoooooooooooooop.” Henry giggled, trying to stop his Momma from tickling him. JJ finally relented and stopped tickling him, pulling him into a hug.  
“Yes it’s Christmas Eve baby, I’m so proud of you for being able to tell me that.” JJ said, fighting back a yawn, she had a sneaking suspicion that Spencer was to blame for her son being so smart and being able to tell her that it was Christmas Eve at just 2 years old. “So what do you want to do today?”  
Before Henry was able to tell his Momma that he wanted to bake cookies for Santa, just like they had been planning all week, JJ’s mobile chimed to tell her she had a text. She bit back a groan, praying desperately that it wasn’t Hotch or Garcia telling her she had to go into work as she stuck her hand out of the fort and picked up the offending item.  
Don’t plan ANYTHING today! Me, you and your little guy are going out for a fun day. It’s finally stopped snowing so we’re going to get out and do some fun things, pick you up at 9. Love you and my little munchkin loads. Em xx  
“Well Henry it seems Aunty Emily has got our day planned for us.” JJ said, smiling as she shot Emily a text back.  
Sounds good to me Em, do I need to pack anything special for this day out? IE a change of clothes or several for Henry? What about breakfast? See you in a few hours. We love you loads as well. xx  
“AUNTY EM!” Henry was overjoyed, he loved Emily almost as much as JJ did, albeit in a totally different way.  
No nothing special just make sure Henry has his coat, hat and gloves. As for breakfast, feed the little monster and we can always get a second breakfast on the way to our first stop. Xx  
“Ok Henry, Aunty Em has said we need your coat, hat and gloves and we’ll give you a snack to keep you happy before we get breakfast so let's go get you some toast and milk and me a large cup of coffee.” JJ said, scooping Henry up and heading down to the kitchen.  
She sat Henry in his high chair then got to work making drinks and toast for him. She flicked the radio on and began singing along to it and dancing around the kitchen, much to Henry’s amusement. He was sat clapping along and giggling at his Mom, squealing at her when she danced her way over to him with a bottle of milk and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  
“What do you want on your toast baby boy? Jelly?” JJ asked him, she sometimes thought this was pointless as he always wanted the same thing but she liked to give him the choice and there was rare occasions when he did ask for something different.  
“Ess pees Mommy! Berry!” Henry replied, banging his bottle on the table.  
JJ chuckled and spread the strawberry jelly on the slice of toast before cutting it into four pieces and putting them on his favourite plate. She left the toast to cool a little as she made herself a cup of coffee and sent Emily a text.  
Monster is eating toast and drinking milk so breakfast will be good, it’ll only keep him happy for so long! I’ve just made a cup of coffee, how long you gonna be? I can make you a cup as well if you like? Xx  
“Here you go little man.” JJ cooed, setting the plate down in front of him and sitting herself in the chair next to him.  
“Ta Mommy.” Henry had barely finished thanking her when he shoved one of the pieces of toast in his mouth, almost choking on it in his enthusiasm.  
“Slow down little monkey.” JJ said, patting and rubbing his back to stop him coughing. “We have time before Aunty Em gets here so no need to rush your food.”  
Henry’s coughing finally subsided and she passed him his bottle of milk for him to take a drink and calm down a little before letting him have the next piece of toast. Just then the doorbell rang and JJ smiled.  
“Looks like Aunty Em is here already!” She grinned, getting up and going to the door, pulling it open. “Hey you, you obviously smelt the kettle.” She joked as Emily walked in and pulled her into a hug.  
“Your dam right I smelt the kettle.” Emily replied, sticking her tongue out at her friend. “Now where’s my little dude?”  
“AUNTY EM!!!” Henry called from his high chair in the kitchen causing both women to laugh.  
“There’s my answer.” Emily chuckled, closing the door behind her and making her way into the kitchen. “Henry! How’s my favourite little dude?” She walked over to him and, skillfully avoiding being covered in strawberry jelly as Henry made to grab at her.  
JJ came back in behind her and made Emily a large mug of coffee before handing it over and turning back to Henry. “Uh oh, do we have a sticky monster on our hands?” She smiled and shook her head at him. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and all ready for our special day out with Aunty Em. Be back in a minute.” She added, looking at Emily who simply nodded.  
“Yeah take your time honey, no rush.” Emily replied, sipping on her cup of coffee and sighing happily.  
JJ nodded and carried Henry up to the bathroom to give him a wash down and get all the sticky jelly off of his hands, face and for some reason his hair.  
“Honestly kiddo, how on earth did you get so much jelly everywhere?” She sighed, washing the shampoo out of his hair while Henry just giggled at her. “There all clean, come on let’s get you dried off and dressed so we can get going.”  
10 minutes later and both of them were dressed, even though Henry had pulled half of his clothes out of his closet in the process and were ready to go.  
Henry went bounding back down towards the kitchen with JJ close behind him and he launched himself at Emily, almost knocking her coffee mug out of her hands which was thankfully almost empty.  
“Well hello to you to, are you all clean and jelly free now?” She asked, putting her mug down and bending down to pick him up.  
“Yep!” Henry grinned, cuddling into her. “Where we go?”  
JJ smiled as she stood in the doorway watching them interact, she was just as curious as Henry to find out exactly what it was Emily had planned for them to do for the day but Emily shook her head, she had that glint in her eye that she only got when she was planning something. Normally that look made JJ nervous as it usually involved the pair of them and Garcia drinking copious amounts of alcohol but today she wasn’t worried at all, she trusted Emily with her life and she knew that Emily certainly wasn’t about to plan anything that would put Henry at risk of being hurt.  
“Sorry little guy that’s a secret.” Emily said in a theatrical whisper that made Henry giggle at her. “You’ll find out soon enough though.” She promised him.

 

They had been driving for almost half an hour when Emily pulled into the parking lot of a small cafe and the trio stepped out into the crisp morning air, their breath rising in front of them as Henry clung to his mother.  
“Ok so here’s the first stop on our Christmas mystery tour, breakfast at one of my favourite cafes.” Emily announced, leading the way across the snow covered parking lot.  
As they walked into the cafe they were greeted by a small red headed woman who smiled at them welcomingly, menu’s in hand.  
“Emily! It’s good to see you.” The woman said, hugging Emily and showing them to a table, bringing over a high chair for Henry to sit in.  
“Good morning Sally.” Emily replied, sliding into the booth opposite JJ. “How have you been?”  
“Oh you know, same old same old.” Sally replied, waving her hand around the place and handing them the menus. “So I’m guessing this beautiful blonde woman is JJ?” She winked at Emily who felt her face flush a red color. “And this little man has got to be Henry.” She added, ruffling Henry’s hair as she did so causing him to grin up at her.  
JJ looked curiously at Emily who blushed more, JJ chuckled at her and shook her head. “So what has our darling Emily told you about us?” She enquired, looking over at Sally. “It’s nice to meet you by the way, I’m sorry to say Emily has never mentioned you.”  
Sally playfully swatted Emily and rolled her eyes. “Not much, just enough for me to be able to recognize you both.”  
“That’s it?” JJ asked, for some reason her heart sank a little as she realized that Emily had barely spoken about her to someone she assumed Emily was close with. Maybe Emily didn’t feel the way she thought she did after all?  
“Not in a bad way.” Sally quickly said, noticing JJ’s body language change slightly. “I don’t see her that often and she always seems to choose the busiest times to come in so we don’t get a chance to talk.”  
“Mommy wan milk an cookies!” Henry piped up, suddenly aware that he wasn’t the center of his Mother’s attention.  
JJ looked sternly at him and lowered her tone. “Henry, that’s not how we ask for things. Ask properly please.”  
“Sowwee, um milk an cookies pees?” Henry said sheepishly, smiling up at Sally.  
“Not problem little man.” Sally smiled back at him. “And what can I get you ladies?”  
“Um I’ll have a large coffee and a stack of pancakes with syrup and bacon please?” JJ said, glancing at the menu before looking over at Emily.  
“I’ll have my usual please Sally.” Emily smiled and Sally nodded, noting it down.  
“So that’s one bottle of milk with cookies, one portion of pancakes with syrup and bacon, two large mugs of coffee and a full English.” Sally recited, “Can I get you guys anything else?”  
Both women shook their heads and Henry grinned up at her from the high chair.  
“Cowers!” He squealed, banging his hands on the tray in front of him happily. “Pees.” He added after a look from his Mom.  
“You want to do some coloring?” Sally asked and he nodded. “You got it, I’ll be right back.” She walked off and came back a few minutes later with a Christmas themed coloring pad with crayons for Henry.  
“Fankoo lady.” He said sweetly and Sally chuckled at him.  
“No problem baby.” Sally replied. “I’m just going to get your coffees and the milk and cookies for Henry.”  
Henry sat there happily, scribbling away on the coloring pad he’d been given. They were the only ones currently sat in the cafe but the women weren’t overly surprised as it was of course Christmas Eve and they figured that most people would be at home with their families and if she was being totally honest, JJ felt rather sorry for Sally being stuck here seemingly on her own with only the chef in the kitchen for company.  
“Here we go girls.” Sally said as she put their coffees down in front of them. “And here’s the milk and cookies for the little guy.” She cooed, giving Henry his requested food and drink. “Though I hope you don’t mind but I asked the chef to make him a bacon sandwich as well, just to give him something more.”  
“Thank you so much.” JJ smiled at her. “I hadn’t thought about that, I guess I just didn’t want to risk upsetting him by asking him to eat something proper.”  
“No problem, hopefully the fact he’s had his milk and cookies first will mean he’ll be happy to tuck into a bacon sandwich as well.” Sally replied.

“Hey Sal!” A male voice rang out from the kitchen. “The food’s ready, come get it then you can have a break!”  
“Coming Frank!” She called back. “Gimme a sec and I’ll bring you guys’ food over and if you don’t mind I’ll come sit with you?”  
“Of course, have a coffee on us as well.” Emily said, nodding. “It’ll be good to catch up with you.”  
Sally nodded and went back to the kitchen to get everyone’s food. She came back and put the food on the table before going to get herself a large mug of coffee and sliding herself into the booth next to Emily.  
“Ugh I hate working Christmas Eve.” She said as she took a sip of her coffee and sighed. “The place is always dead but the boss always insists on being open for at least the morning, I’ve been here since 5am and you girls are the first customers of the day.”  
“That’s gotta suck.” JJ said, agreeing totally with hating having to work Christmas. “We’ve got lucky the last few years, it seems killers take Christmas off.”  
“Do NOT jinx it JJ!” Emily said, subconsciously touching her pocket where her phone was located. “I’ve spent ages planning today for Hotch to call us in now.”  
JJ raised her brow and smirked at Emily. “Oh ages huh?” She stabbed her stack of pancakes with her fork and took a bite. “And why have you spent ages planning this? How did you know we would be here? You know I always go to Pennsylvania for the holidays.”  
Emily’s face went scarlet. “Well um, no not ages ages just a few days, since it started snowing and I figured you’d be stuck in Virginia.” She said, backtracking a little and lying almost too obviously.  
Sally was watching the two of them with a smirk on her face, she knew just how long Emily had been planning this day and apparently JJ didn’t have a clue. Henry was sat clueless, ignoring his bacon sandwich and coloring away happily lost in his own little world. JJ looked over at Sally and confusion flashed across her face.  
“What? Am I missing something here?” She said, looking between Sally’s smirking face and Emily’s scarlet one. “Seriously what am I missing?”  
“Oh nothing darling.” Emily said casually. “Sally is just overthinking a situation that hasn’t even happened yet.” She added, giving Sally a pointed look.  
“Oh yeah, I am, sorry I didn’t mean anything by it.” Sally said quickly, realizing that the event she thought had happened hadn’t just yet and she was at risk of dumping Emily in it without meaning to.  
JJ continued to look between the two, her face growing suspicious but she decided to let it drop for now, she didn’t want to ruin the day that Emily had clearly so eagerly and carefully planned.  
“Mommy wook!” Henry piped up, cutting through JJ’s thoughts. “I did pictoor.” He looked so proud of himself as he held the picture of Santa and Rudolph up for his Mommy to look at.  
“Oh wow baby that’s awesome!” JJ cooed, clapping her hands and smiling at him. “Good job baby.”  
“That really is beautiful Henry.” Emily agreed, looking at the picture as well before Henry tried to shove it in her face. “You are such a good artist.”  
Henry grinned and discarded the picture in favour of tucking into his bacon sandwich. “Mow milke pees.” He said, holding his bottle out to Sally who smiled and nodded at him.  
“Sure baby, thank you for asking so nicely.” She said and stood up. “That is ok isn’t it?” She asked, double checking with JJ who nodded.  
“Of course it is, he’s being good and he’s now eating his sandwich so I don’t see why he can’t have a refill on the milk.” She said, taking another bite of her pancakes before turning to her coffee and draining it. “Any change I can get a refill on the coffee?” She added.  
“Sure I’ll bring a pot over, I know what Emily can be like for refills on her own, and if she’s anything to go by all you FBI agents have more caffeine in your veins than blood most of the time.” Sally chuckled. “I’ll be rite back.”  
“So are you going to tell me where we’re headed next?” JJ questioned Emily who shook her head.  
“Not a chance, I’ve kept it from you for this long I’m not going to let it out the bag now.” Emily grinned.  
“Do I at least get a clue?” JJ asked, fluttering her eyelashes, trying to be cute. “Please?”  
“Nope.” Emily said, refusing to give in, despite how cute and attractive she currently found her. “All day is planned out and you just have to trust me that nothing will go wrong or be harmful to you or Henry.”  
“I do trust you, you know that I just don’t do well with surprises which you also know.” JJ said, pouting at Emily. “Please, please, pleassssssssssssssssse?”  
“You are worse than Henry sometimes JJ you know that right?” Emily chuckled, shaking her head. “I’m not telling you and that’s the end of it.”  
Sally came back with another bottle of milk for Henry and a large pot of coffee for JJ and Emily and she caught the end of Emily’s last sentence.  
“There’s no point trying to out stubborn her JJ, haven’t you worked this one out yet?” She said, shaking her head. “You’ve been her friend for what? Five years now?”  
“Um about that yeah.” JJ said, trying to think back to when they first met, which meant the first time she started to fall for Emily.  
“Five years, seven months, two weeks and three days.” Emily said, not realizing just how in depth her answer was compared to JJ’s.  
“How long did that take you to work out?” JJ asked curiously.  
“I uh… Oh…” Emily said, blushing furiously.  
“Oh I’m not mad, I’m impressed.” JJ said, laughing at her and nudging Emily’s leg under the table with her foot.  
JJ’s action didn’t go unnoticed by Emily who tried to stay calm and act naturally despite the fact her heart was racing. She wanted to lean over the table and kiss her so badly but she had no idea how JJ would react, little did she know that the same thoughts were running through JJ’s mind as well, the only thing stopping her apart from fear of rejection by Emily was how Henry was likely to react to his Mommy kissing something that wasn’t Daddy, a concept he hadn’t grasped yet.  
Both women cleared their throats and turned their attentions back to their breakfasts finishing their food in a relatively comfortable silence. There had obviously been a moment between them but neither of them wanted to admit it just yet. JJ was a little scared of what may happen if she did open up to Emily and admit just how she felt about her, what the effect of that would be on their relationship but also how it would effect Henry, after all it had only been a few months since Will had left and Henry still missed his Daddy and asked about him. Emily herself was worried about being rejected and that if she admitted to JJ that she loved her and wanted to be with her then it was likely to ruin their friendship forever and as far as Emily was concerned it was better to have JJ as a friend than to lose her completely.  
Twenty minutes later and all three of them had finished eating and were now happy and full. Emily settled the check and took JJ’s hand in hers as they walked out with Henry running ahead of them. JJ got him settled back in his car seat and slid into the front seat while Emily got into the driver's seat.  
“Ready for the next stop in our adventure?” Emily asked, turning in her seat to look at Henry who nodded eagerly at her. “Well then, we had better get going hadn’t we?” She grinned and turned the engine on, flicking the radio on and turning it up as the Christmas music started blasting from the speakers.  
Emily and JJ sang along at the tops of their voices as they drove and chuckled when Henry attempted to sing along. Emily was taking a lot of back roads JJ noticed as she tried to figure out where they were headed but the winding roads left her confused and disorientated.  
They had been driving for what felt like forever but in reality was only just over an hour when Emily pulled down a little dirt road and headed into a forest area. A few hundred yards and they came to a clearing where there were some cars parked but JJ was still none the wiser as to what they were about to do but she could hear some music playing through the trees. She stepped out of the car and helped Henry jump down, catching hold of his hood before bolted away from her.  
“It’s just down here.” Emily said, smiling at Henry and JJ. “Trust me it’s just magical.”  
Emily led them down a small track through the trees until they came to a second clearing and she put her hands gently over JJ’s eyes before they stepped out. When she dropped her hands and JJ got her first glimpse of where Emily had taken them she gasped.  
“Oh Em.” She breathed, staring at the Ice rink in front of them. “Ice skating!” She grinned at her and hugged her. “How did you know?”  
“You told me about the times you spend on the frozen over lake at your parents house as a child.” Emily said, hugging her back tightly. “And I come here every year, they have the best hot chocolates and you can rent skates as well.”  
“What about Henry?” JJ asked, “Is he old enough to skate yet?”  
“Don’t worry, they have baby skates for the little ones and they have penguins that they can hold onto to help them balance and skate.” Emily smiled, scooping Henry up and cuddling him. “How does that sound champ? Want to try ice skating?”  
“I no sure.” He said, watching the people on the ice, his brow furrowing. “Wooks hard.”  
“That’s ok baby, me and Mommy will be with you the whole time and that’s why I got Mommy to bring your coat, hat and gloves and the lovely lady that hands out the skates to people will give you something to put round your middle so that if you fall over you won’t hurt your bum.” Emily said. “And if you really don’t like it we can sit on the sidelines and watch Mommy skate while we drink hot chocolates.”  
“Now oo are tawking!” Henry said, grinning. “I wan do dat.”  
“Now now Henry, Aunty Em has been kind enough to bring us here and pay for us to skate, don’t you think you should try it out?” JJ asked, taking Henry from Emily’s arms and sitting him on her hip.  
Henry looked between his Mommy and Aunty Em and back again, he still wasn’t sure about the whole skating thing but he was determined to try, if for no other reason than to make his Aunty Em happy.  
“What do you think buddy? You up for giving it a go?” Emily said after a few minutes, realizing that Henry was trying to make the choice himself.  
“Otay Aunt Em I twy.” He said, nodding slowly, still not entirely convinced about ice skating.  
“Let’s go!” Emily grinned, taking his hand as JJ put him down. “Coming JJ?” She asked, looking at the blonde who nodded.  
The two women led Henry towards the tented area next to the rink where they could sign in and get their skates. Emily and JJ both had black skates in different sizes as that was the only option they had but Henry got to choose between penguins and snowflakes on his. After a few minutes he pointed shyly at the skates with penguins on to match the penguin he would have to hold on to. JJ helped him jump up onto the bench and settle himself down while Emily paid and got their skates, she came over and passed JJ her skates while she helped Henry put his on. They had been told that they could just grab one of the penguin push-alongs at the edge of the rink and JJ carried Henry towards the rink, convinced he wasn’t going to be able to walk on the skates as he still had some problems walking in shoes.  
Emily was the first to step out onto the ice, wobbling a little as she tried to get her balance but she smiled widely for Henry’s benefit as she saw he was still very unsure. She held her hand out to him as JJ put him down on the ice to allow her to grab one of the penguins for him to push around.  
“Be careful baby.” JJ warned as Henry started to wobble.

“I otay Mommy.” Henry grinned as he took hold of the penguin and started to slowly move around the edge of the rink.  
Emily took JJ’s hand as they started to skate behind Henry, having given him enough of a head start to make it seem like he was simply leading the way. The two of them were keeping a close eye on him, ready to reach out and catch him if he fell but it appeared he was as much of a natural as his Mommy was and every time Emily glanced over at JJ she was beaming with pride watching him go.  
“He’s really good at this isn’t he?” Emily commented after they had gone round a few times.  
“It seems so, shame he isn’t as capable on solid ground.” JJ grinned, watching as Henry dared to let go of the plastic penguin and try to strike out on his own.  
“Wook Mommy I do it!” Henry squealed as he managed to take a few skates forward before toppling over and almost hitting the floor.  
JJ caught him just millimetres from the ice and scooped him up. “Almost baby, but that was a very good try.” She smiled and kissed his head.  
“Yeah that’s much better than my first time.” Emily nodded. “I spent more time on the ice than I did on my feet.”  
“Now that I’d like to have seen.” JJ teased and Emily’s face went scarlet.  
“It was one Christmas in Italy when I was around seven.” She replied. “Mother was posted over there and the lake had frozen over so all of the kids in the village went skating on it it was amazing.” Her mind drifted off to that Christmas, it was the first Christmas she had spent in a country where she had lived for more than a few weeks, in fact now she thought about it, it may well have been her second Christmas in that village, the first having been only a week after she had arrived.  
“Italy?” JJ asked, shaking Emily from her thoughts. “I didn’t know you had lived in Italy twice? You lived there as a teenager because that was where…” She trailed off as she saw the look on Emily’s face. “You know what, never mind.”  
“Well yes but it was two different parts of Italy, the second time, the one you think of was when I lived in Rome this first time was a small village outside Sicily.” Emily pointed out. “I loved both times but skating always reminds me of the first.”  
“We haf hot cocklate now Aunty Em?” Henry asked. Now that he had stopped skating and had been picked up he realized just how tired he was and he let out a yawn.  
“Yes baby, you’ve done well so I think you’ve earned a hot chocolate.” Emily replied. “Are you coming babe or do you want to keep skating?”  
“I’m gonna keep skating for a little while, the ice is going quiet now so it’ll be easier for me to do my little routines and stuff.” JJ said, skating over to the edge of the rink with Emily and Henry as they got off.  
“More room to show off you mean?” Emily teased causing JJ to blush. “Come on little man, we can watch Mommy from the sidelines and she can have her hot chocolate when she’s finished.”  
“I haf mashmallow pees?” Henry asked, looking up at Emily from the floor where he was now sat trying to pull his skates off.  
“Of course you can, and I’m sure we can ask them to put cream on it as well.” Emily replied before actually looking down at Henry. “Hey be careful baby, don’t cut your fingers on the skates, here let me help.” She said and helped him up before carrying him over to the benches and sitting him on the nearest one to help him take his skates off, thankful that the blunted the blades for the children’s skates so they weren’t as sharp.  
Once Emily had returned both sets of skates and got their shoes back she helped Henry put his on before they made their way to the little shack that sold hot chocolates and ordered two, one for Emily and one for Henry, both with marshmallows and extra cream on them, the only difference was Emily had a shot of Bailey’s in hers to add a little extra flavour. The ice rink had set up several picnic tables for people to sit at while they watched the people skating on the ice if they had chosen not to join in. Henry instantly bounded over to the one closest to the rink so he could see his Mommy, Emily smiled and followed him, putting the drinks down and sitting on the other side of the table so they both had a good view of the rink and JJ doing all of her fancy jumps and spins. Both of them watched in total awe as JJ jumped up and spun round before landing on one skate, Henry clapped and squealed waving frantically every time his Mommy skated past them and grinning as JJ waved back. After a few minutes though Henry had gotten bored of watching and plonked himself down, slurping the cream that had started to melt on top of his hot chocolate and getting it all over his face.  
“Wook Emmy I Anta!” Henry said, giggling away as he looked up at Emily who saw him and burst out laughing as well.  
“Oh Henry look at you.” Emily chuckled, quickly snapping a picture of him to show JJ later. “Come on let’s get that cream off your face.” She picked up a napkin and wiped his face off, wishing she had a wet wipe of some description as he was a little sticky.  
Just as Emily had finished wiping Henry’s face, JJ came to join them, she smiled and sat down to Emily absentmindedly kissing her on the cheek as she did so. Emily felt her face go warm where JJ had kissed it but didn’t say anything in case she had simply meant it as an innocent friendly gesture.  
“Mommy where my kissey hewwo?” Henry’s voice felt like a shout as both women turned to look at him, having been previously lost in their own, almost identical, thoughts.”  
“Oh I’m sorry baby.” JJ said and leant over to kiss him as well. “Is that better?”  
Henry thought about it for a minute and nodded before shrugging and going back to his hot chocolate, completely oblivious to what he may or may not have interrupted with his demand not to miss out kisses from his Mommy.  
Emily didn’t look at JJ but her hand moved under the table to brush up against her thigh and JJ smiled a little before moving her hand and brushing along the back of Emily’s hand with her fingers. Their hands intertwined as Emily took a sip of her drink, sliding the mug across the table until it sat in front of JJ who picked it up and took a sip as well, neither of them thinking about the implications of their actions they were just enjoying each other’s company and being able to be in a place where nobody knew them so they didn’t have to worry about anybody judging them for acting the way they currently were, not that either of them knew exactly what this was but they were happy to go with the flow.  
Another ten minutes and Henry had not only finished his hot chocolate he had fallen asleep at the picnic table, Emily and JJ were still content sharing the second hot chocolate and passing the mug back and forth between them. Each of them were lost in their own thoughts and they were only jolted out of them when they heard the clatter of Henry’s mug as he tipped it over when he’d fallen asleep.  
“What times is it?” JJ asked, looking at Emily who looked down at her phone.  
“It’s almost twelve thirty.” She said before she remembered the picture she’d taken of Henry. “Oh yeah, look at this.” She grinned and passed the phone over to JJ.  
“Oh bless him, that’s adorable.” JJ said, smiling as she looked at the picture. “When did he do that?”  
“Not long before you came over, I had just finished wiping his face when you say next to me.” Emily replied, taking the phone back and slipping it back into her pocket. “He said, ‘look Emmy I’m Santa’ and when I looked up and there he was with the cream beard.”  
“Of course he was.” JJ chuckled.  
Thankfully Henry was getting to that stage where he was coming out with the best and funniest one liners and it was just what JJ needed at this point, she was missing her family terribly and although Emily was definitely helping her out and making her feel not so lonely she couldn’t help but wish she and Henry had been able to get to her parent’s house.  
“Do you think Henry will wake up if we try and move him?” Emily asked, glancing across at him. “Nah he will be totally out of it now.” JJ replied. “We can move him back to the car if that’s what you were asking.”  
“That was why I was asking yeah.” Emily nodded. “We have a bit of a drive before our next stop on the mystery tour but we can let him sleep in the car and there’s a McDonald’s on the way so we can stop there and get him something to eat and I fancy a milkshake so we can always get ourselves something as well if you like or we can wait until we get to where we’re going and eat then while Henry is busy?”  
“Ooo I can’t remember the last time I had a milkshake from McDonald's.” JJ said wistfully. “Let’s do it.”  
Emily nodded and stood up, JJ followed suit and walked around the table to scoop Henry up and carry him back towards Emily’s car as Emily lead the way. She pulled the car door open for JJ to put Henry in his car seat before sliding into the front seat. As soon as Emily was back in the driver's seat she turned the engine on and let it run for a few minutes so the car could warm up, allowing the heating to kick in as well.  
“Do I get a clue on this part of the tour? Apart from the fact we can eat while Henry is busy doing whatever it is he can do at the next place?” JJ asked, looking at Emily, hoping that this time she may give in.  
“Well seeing as Henry is asleep and this next part is for him, I guess I can let you in on this little secret.” Emily said thoughtfully. “Let’s just say he’s been Santa, well kind of, now he can meet Santa.”  
“He’ll love that Em.” JJ smiled. “Where is he going to get to meet Santa?”  
“Now that one I’m not going to tell you, you’ll go mental.” Emily said, knowing what JJ was like when Emily spent money on her.  
“That means it’s going to have cost you plenty of money.” JJ said, feeling guilty, she hadn’t even wanted to think about how much the other activities had already cost Emily, knowing that she’d have no way to pay her back for it after paying for her divorce from Will.  
“That’s not important.” Emily replied. “It’s the first Christmas you guys have had without Will and the first one you’ve had in a long time without being with your family so I wanted to make it special for both of you.”  
Tears filled JJ’s eyes as she listened to her best friend explain while she was spoiling them so much. “Em I…” The words got lost travelling between her mind and her mouth and she closed it before shaking her head.  
“It’s ok JJ I understand.” Emily said, and she did, she truly understood what it was like to feel like you were alone for the Christmas period, she had spent most of her childhood Christmases with random members of her Mother’s staff and very rarely with her Mother for several reasons she didn’t care to remember. “It’s why I want to make sure that Henry’s first Christmas without his Daddy is memorable in a good way and I know you didn’t have the money to do things like this.”  
JJ leant over the central console and pulled Emily into a hug, no words were needed now as the two friends sat there holding each other all the emotions were being poured into the hug. JJ pulled back and looked at Emily, the brunette looked back at her and bit her lip her heart beating fast as her head and her heart had a silent argument, she wanted to kiss her so badly but fear was stopping her. She shouldn’t have worried though as JJ slowly leant in closer to close the gap between them, their lips meeting tentatively for the first time before both women relaxed into the kiss, Emily bringing her hand up to cup JJ’s cheek.  
JJ was the first to break the kiss, she leant her head against Emily’s gently, smiling happily her eyes still closed for fear that if she opened them it would all turn out to be a dream like it had been so many times before and she didn’t think her heart would be able to cope with the disappointment.  
“JJ…” Emily whispered. “JJ open your eyes.” Her own eyes fluttering open to meet JJ’s.  
“Hi.” JJ breathed as she slowly opened her eyes, her bright blue ones meeting Emily’s brown ones as both women processed what had just happened.  
They were pulled back to earth when Henry let out a small cough from the back seat and stirred a little before rubbing his nose in his sleep and falling silent once more. JJ smiled shyly and Emily cleared her throat, both of them decided that now was not the time to talk about the kiss and that they would talk about it later on when Henry was in bed and they were truly alone. Emily put the car in drive and maneuvered out of the makeshift parking lot, trying to keep her mind focused on driving and not allow it to drift and think about the kiss and what it may mean for them and their relationship.  
JJ was sat there staring out of the window watching the world go by, unlike Emily she didn’t have driving to distract her from her thoughts so all her energy was left free to think about the kiss and how things were likely to change between them now. It wasn’t a bad feeling, she decided, sure she hadn’t been intending for the kiss to happen, or at least not so soon and definitely not in Emily’s car with Henry asleep on the back seat but she couldn’t help thinking that maybe now they had shared their first kiss, the conversation she had been wanting to have with Emily for so long would be easier and the fact that Emily had kissed her back, brought her hand up to cup her cheek as they kissed, meant she wasn’t going to be rejected as she had been so scared she was going to be. Divorcing Will had been hard, finding out he had cheated on her hurt more but now she thought about it, she had been guilty of the same offence, in thought and emotion if not in action as he had and yet that thought gave her little comfort as the more she thought about it the more obvious it became that she should never have been with Will in the first place. She now realized that Emily had her heart, she had always had her heart and now she just needed to find a way to tell Emily that.  
They drove in comfortable silence and JJ smiled as Emily reached over to take her hand and hold it as she drove. Henry was still happily sleeping, perfectly oblivious to where they were headed. Emily flicked the radio on after a while and began to hum along to the songs. JJ was still lost in her own thoughts as they continued to drive, she was only half paying attention to where they were going and still managed to jump a little when Emily squeezed her hand to try and get her attention.  
“We’re at McDonald's babe.” she said and JJ looked round at her before turning to check on Henry who was still napping.  
“Henry only really eats the nuggets and chips, so can he just have a happy meal with a chocolate milkshake and can I gave a large vanilla milkshake please darling?” JJ asked and Emily nodded.  
When they got to the drive-thru Emily ordered Henry’s nuggets meal, along with two large milkshakes and a portion of fries, JJ gave her a curious look and she just shrugged as she pulled up to the next window to pay before they got their order and Emily pulled out and back onto the road.  
“Henry baby?” JJ said, turning in her seat a little to look at him. “Henry wake up, Aunty Em has got you a happy meal.”  
Henry stirred a little and blinked. “Huh Mommy?” He said, sleepily trying to wake up.  
“Aunty Em got you a nuggets happy meal for McDonald’s.” JJ said. “And a chocolate milkshake.”  
That was all it took for Henry to wake up properly and he grinned at the back of Emily’s head, making grabby hands towards his Mommy so she’d give him his lunch. JJ rolled her eyes at him, normally she’d remind him to use his manners but he was being so good today she decided to let it slide, as soon as the box was in his hands he ripped it open and started to eat the nuggets.  
“Fankoo Emmy.” He said with a mouthful of nugget before swallowing and picking up the milkshake JJ had put in the cup holder of his car seat and taking a sip.  
“You’re welcome baby, thank you for being so polite.” Emily replied, glancing at him in her rearview mirror and smiling at him. “Did you have a good nap?”  
Henry nodded in response, not wanting to talk more as it took away from his ability to eat his lunch, still stuffing his face with fries as he did so.  
“Woah slow down baby, the food isn’t going anywhere.” JJ said, watching him and worrying that he may choke in a minute.  
Henry just grinned at her and continued eating, he had slowed down but JJ decided to let him believe he did it on his own and not just because she’d told him to. She picked up her milkshake and took a sip before Emily nudged her hand and pointed to the portion of fries.  
“I got them for us to share as a snack before we get to the next place and have some lunch.” Emily said, picking up a few fries and eating them. “Go on, eat.”  
JJ smiled shyly and picked up a few fries herself, nibbling on them before taking a sip of her milkshake. She didn’t want to tell Emily that she was still full from breakfast and sharing the hot chocolate with her as all Emily was doing was being nice to her.  
“That’s more like it.” Emily nodded, glad that JJ was happy to share the fries even if she hadn’t asked for them.  
“So how long till we get to the next place?” JJ asked, trying to keep the conversation casual now that she knew Henry was awake again.  
“Not long, another twenty minutes or so.” Emily said, double checking her GPS that had the estimated time in one corner of the screen. “Yeah the GPS reckons it’ll be another twenty minutes from now so long as we don’t hit any traffic.”  
“Where going Emmy?” Henry asked, now finished with his food and was sat playing with the toy that had come with his meal.  
“Come on buddy you know I can’t tell you, it’s a surprise.” Emily said, shaking her head. “But I promise you’ll like it and it’ll be worth the wait.”  
Henry pouted but figured out that there was no point arguing with her as there was no way she was going to back down now. He settled for running the toy car up and down the side of his car seat, humming tunelessly to himself, squirming a little as he realized he needed to go to the toilet.  
“Mommy pee pee.” He whimpered, “Emmy faster!”  
“Ok baby we’re almost there.” Emily said, putting her foot on the gas pedal and pressing down on it a little harder to make the car go faster. “Can you hold it five more minutes?”  
Henry whimpered but nodded, crossing his legs as best he could in the confines of his car seat. JJ watched him and willed the traffic to get out of the way as she wasn’t sure if she’d packed spare underwear for him, he’d been out of diapers for a few months now so rarely had times when he didn’t get to the potty therefore she had simply gotten out of the habit of carrying spares around for him. But if she was right in thinking where they were headed, if it turned out he couldn’t hold it then that was ok as she could easily buy him a change of clothes which if she was honest she may do anyway as the clothes she could get from the place she thought they were headed were nice! It may bankrupt her a little but it would be worth it. As they pulled into the parking lot JJ gasped. She had been right in thinking they were headed to a big department store but this was beyond what she had expected.  
“Macy’s?” JJ said, her mouth falling open. “Em, this is… This is too much.”  
“It’s not.” Emily reassured her. “Come on, let’s get Henry out of the car before he needs new clothes.”  
Both of them got out of the car and JJ let Henry out of his car seat, picking him up and carrying him inside to the toilets, leaving Emily to lock the car and make her way inside to sign Henry in and pay for his extra special present, the one she had been planning on giving him for the last few months but she now decided that it would be more magical for Henry if he got it from Santa rather than her. She hadn’t told JJ about it because she hated JJ knowing how much was spending on them as it would make her feel guilty and that was the last thing on Emily’s mind, to her paying $300 for a limited edition, rare, stuffed bear for Henry was nothing but she knew that there was no way JJ would be able to afford something that extravagant. It wasn’t just Henry that was going to get spoilt though, Emily had tucked away a few presents for JJ as well but she was going to give them to her later on when they were back at JJ’s house.  
By the time Emily had finished paying for Henry’s visit to santa along with a specially framed photo JJ had reappeared, carrying Henry in her arms.  
“We made it to the toilet’s just in time, I’m so proud of him.” JJ said, kissing Emily’s cheek and smiling at her.  
“I went pee pee on da big boy potty!” Henry said, rather louder than he should have done but JJ smiled regardless.  
“You did?” Emily gasped. “Good job buddy, I’m so proud of you. Are you ready for your next surprise?”  
“Ess pees!” Henry said, nodding eagerly and looking around to try and figure out what it may be.  
“Well buddy, me and Mommy are taking you to see Santa!” Emily grinned at him as he squealed happily.  
JJ put the now struggling Henry down, taking one hand as Emily took the other and they led him towards Santa’s grotto where there was a short line of other overly excited children, each of them around Henry’s age although there were a few older ones as well. Henry grinned wider as they got closer to the entrance of the Grotto, waving at all of the elves and patting the decorative reindeer as they went passed them.  
By the time Henry was at the front of the queue JJ thought Henry may pass out from the excitement of it all, he was visibly shaking and bouncing up and down on the spot until his name was called out and then he ran forward and practically jumped into Santa’s lap.  
“Hello Henry.” Santa said in his cheerful voice, only serving to make Henry even happier that he knew his name, of course it was only because one of the Elves had just told him but Henry didn’t need to know that. “So tell me Henry have you been a good boy this year?”  
Henry thought for a moment and nodded shyly. “I twy be good.” He admitted, burying his face into Santa’s chest. “But it hawd. Daddy went way, that meen I bad?”  
JJ felt her heart break a little as she heard Henry’s words. Emily reached down and took her hand, squeezing it comfortingly as she leant over to her.  
“It’s not your fault and it’s not Henry’s.” Emily whispered in her ear. “Don’t start blaming yourself ok?”  
JJ nodded silently as the tears started to fall down her face, making tracks down her cheeks before dripping off and hitting the floor. The look on Santa’s face as he held Henry in his arms said it all, Emily could see the tears forming in his eyes but it was his words that made Emily smile a little as she watched them.  
“Now Henry, you listen to me ok? Daddy leaving doesn’t mean you are naughty at all, it doesn’t mean you are bad and it definitely doesn’t mean that he won’t love you anymore. Sometimes unfortunately Mommy’s and Daddy’s stop getting on and it’s not anybody’s fault, it just happens sometimes, but I promise you that both Mommy and Daddy love you very much and that will never change even if they don’t love each other anymore or if Daddy had gone away.” He said, trying to soothe Henry a little while still fighting back tears, his voice breaking a little as he spoke. “Why don’t you tell Santa what you are hoping to get for Christmas eh? Cheer ourselves up a little.”  
“I wan Mommy to be happy.” Henry said, looking over at her and smiling at them both. “I finks Aunty Emmy makes her happy, and I wan a twike, a ball and some cwayons.”  
“Well it’s Christmas Eve so I can’t make any promises but I will see what I can do.” Santa replied. “But for now, here is an extra special gift that I got just for you.” He added, pulling out the bear wrapped up nicely and tied with a bow. “I hope you like it Henry and I hope you carry on being a very good boy.”  
“Fankoo Anta.” Henry said, as he clutched the present under his arm. He was about to jump down when one of the Elves told him that he was going to have his picture taken first. “Mommy, Aunty Emmy oo bees in it too.” He said, jumping down for a second to grab both of their hands and pulling them over to where Santa was sat. JJ helped him climb back up and they each stood one side of him, smiling widely at the camera as the bulb flashed signalling the picture had been taken. “I wuv oo Anta.” He said softly and gave Santa a hug before JJ picked him up and carried him out.  
“I think it may be time to wear this little monkey out for abit.” Emily said as Henry had now ripped the wrapping paper and was running around clutching it under his arm and screaming in delight.  
What happened next was all in slow motion and JJ couldn’t do anything about it as Henry ran, not looking where he was going and hit a patch of ice and went flying, hitting the ground with a bang, his brand new teddy hitting the floor six feet away from him, falling head first into a pile of snow, his little paws sticking out of it. Henry’s sobs were heart wrenching as JJ instantly ran to him, scooping him up and checking for any serious injuries. Emily went to pick up the teddy, thankfully it wasn’t too wet and she would be able to dry him off on top of a radiator when they got back to JJ’s and with a brush of his fur he’d be good as new.  
“You’re ok baby.” JJ soothed, Henry was still crying in her arms but she had determined there were no bad injuries and he was likely screaming from schock. “It’s just a little bump darling you’re ok.”  
“Hey come on buddy, don’t cry, teddy is ok as well just a little damp like you.” Emily said, walking over to them and holding the teddy out to him. “Come on, let’s go get you some dry clothes shall we?” She added, walking back towards the store with the intention of buying not only Henry, but herself and JJ new outfits.  
“Em wait!” JJ said, hurrying after her with Henry in her arms, he’d stopped crying but was whimpering with his fingers in his mouth. “Em I can’t afford to buy Henry new clothes from here.” She caught up to Emily and put a hand on her shoulder. “Please Em, you’ve spent so much on us already I can’t let you by him clothes from here as well.”  
“JJ please, stop worrying, not only do I have more than enough money I also have nobody else to spoil apart from you and Henry so please, let me do this.” Emily said, looking at JJ with a pleading look on her face.  
JJ was about to argue but she saw the look on Emily’s face and stopped, she simply nodded and followed Emily, still carrying Henry on her hip.  
They walked back into the store and headed up to the children’s section to start with Henry as he was wet and still whimpering so Emily was hoping to prevent Henry getting a cold. When they got to the children’s section it took them a while to find the right area of the children’s section where the clothes that would fit Henry were located.  
“What do you fancy bud?” Emily asked, looking over at Henry who looked at her and then looked at the clothing.  
“Pider-Man pees Emmy.” He said shyly, pointing to a t-shirt with Spider -Man on it and matching pants.  
“That’s what you want? You got it.” Emily smiled, picking up the outfit. “What else baby?”  
Henry looked around at all the other clothing and pointed out a few different things, Star Wars, Iron Man, a few Christmas items like Elves and a Snowman, Emily walking along behind him and picking up everything he pointed out. He paused for a second as they teetered on the edge of the clothes for girls and he spotted a dress with Cinderella on it along with a pink sleepsuit with Fairies on it. He shifted from side to side as he stared at the clothes he wanted but he wasn’t sure if he could ask for them or not.  
“What are you looking at baby?” Emily said, crouching down next to him and putting an arm around the young boy.  
“Rella an Fairy” He replied shyly, pointing out the clothing before burying his face in Emily’s shoulder. Emily looked up at JJ who shrugged and gave silent confirmation that if Henry wanted them he could have them.  
“You want the Cinderella dress and the sleepsuit with the Fairies on it?” Emily asked him, wanting to double check that was indeed what he wanted.  
“Ess pees Emmy.” He replied, still not looking at either of them.  
“I think those are lovely clothes to wear don’t you JJ?” Emily said, trying to prove that Henry worrying about what his Mommy would think wasn’t something he needed to worry about.  
“I love the Cinderella dress but we may have to find a different sleepsuit baby, those are for little babies and you are a big boy now.” JJ replied, smiling and picking Henry up, settling him back on her hip. “What about this one? It still has a fairy on it, it’s Tinkerbell.”  
Henry looked and shook his head. “Wong color Mommy.” He said. “It no ink.”  
Emily grinned and hit her hand to her forehead. “It’s not pink silly Mommy.” She said, teasing a little. “It’s ok here’s another pink one, it hasn’t got fairies on it though, it’s flowers instead is that ok?” She held the sleepsuit up for Henry to look at.  
“I wike dat!” Henry grinned. “See Mommy ink!”  
“Good choice Em.” JJ said, secretly pleased that Emily was so good at reading her son when she struggled to a little at times. “And I think it will look beautiful on you darling.” She added, kissing Henry on the top of his head.  
Emily smiled and picked up the last of the things Henry had asked for clothes wise and she decided to take Henry towards the toy section to let him pick out some new toys as well, what she hadn’t told JJ was that she had already otten Henry some Christmas presents for him to open in the morning and that everything she was buying today were just extras.  
As they reached the toy department Emily turned to look at Henry. “Ok buddy, you can choose three toys and a new game for us all to play.” She said and Henry nodded eagerly.  
The three of them made their way through the toy department, with Henry turning his head every which way trying to find things he would like. After a while he picked out a remote control toy car, a Spider Man Action figure, a tea set complete with a tea pot, four tea cups, saucers, a milk jug and sugar bowl. The game he’d picked out was a version of snap with lots of bright colors which both Emily and JJ looked forward to playing with him. With his choices finished Emily lead him and JJ towards the checkouts to pay for it all, she refused to tell JJ how much everything cost, despite her asking several times. Once everything had been bagged and sorted, Emily handed JJ Henry’s new Spider Man outfit and told her to head to the toilets to get him changed while she went to the women's clothing department to buy the next things on her list.  
Emily was looking forward to taking her time picking out some new clothes for both her and JJ, plus some new underwear, or should she say, lingerie for both of them. She walked over to the section that had all of the dresses in it first, she thought if she picked the ultimate dresses for them both, or maybe a pants suit for her as she wasn’t a fan of wearing dresses, she could then use that as a basis to buy matching lingerie to go with the dresses.  
She made her way over to where the cocktail dresses were and looked at them, feeling a little out of her depth as she didn’t normally wear dresses but she saw the most perfect dress ever and she knew that regardless of the price tag she simply had to buy it for JJ. It was a teal color and the neckline was accented by sequins and it had a split up the side that on JJ would come to her mid thigh as she was so tall but that made her all the more attractive to Emily. She knew that she’d have to find the perfect kitten heels to match the dress as well as the lingerie so she grabbed the dress without looking at the price tag on it and placed it in her basket before heading towards the section that carried pants suits. She spotted the suit she wanted almost instantly, it was navy blue with a white blouse under it and she knew that it would drive JJ totally insane and that was her plan all along.  
The next stop was shoes but first Emily sent JJ a test telling her to met her by the car, she had a few more things to pick up and then she’d be right out. She smirked to herself as she slid her phone back into her pocket and made her way towards the shoe department.  
Faced with the wall of heels in front of her Emily took a few moments to consider what would suit JJ the best and would match her new dress perfectly. She started pacing up and down as she looked at each and every pair of heels as she did so, there were a few contenders she felt but she wasn’t sure, she was very tempted to buy all three pairs that she liked for JJ but she valued her life and knew that JJ would have a total fit if she saw the price tags on any of the things she was buying for her so it was a good thing Emily knew exactly what size she was in dresses, shoes and lingerie as there was no risk of JJ needing to return them.  
Another five minutes and she had finally decided on a pair of dark blue stilettos for her and a pair of black kitten heels for JJ. She slid them into the basket along with the dress and suit and made her way to find the lingerie department, despite the desire she had to leave JJ without anything under the dress, she decided that she would behave, for now at least, as the relationship, if she could call it that just yet, was still new she wanted to make sure that JJ was happy with the idea of being with her before she pulled that kind of thing. Stepping into the lingerie department was like walking through the gates of heaven for Emily, she may not care so much about fashion but she always made sure that what she wore underneath it was both comfortable and sexy. She often favoured a silk lace bra and some form of boy shorts but today she knew she had to pull out all of the stops if she wanted her plan to work.  
Emily began to look at all of the options she had in the lingerie department, it was a large section as it was and she was in her element. She didn’t have long though, she didn’t want to keep Henry and JJ waiting longer than was needed as she knew that Henry would want to get to the next stage of the magical mystery tour even though he had no idea what was coming next. That was one of the things she loved most about Henry, he was always happy to see her and happy doing things that she had planned for them to do together even when he had no idea what it was.  
It didn’t take her long to find what it was she was looking for, she had found the perfect set of lacey lingerie for JJ, black with teal accents, the panties were held together with teal ribbon tied in bows on either side Emily knew that JJ would love them and the ribbon holding everything together would provide her with the perfect amount of sensual actions to partake in later on. For herself she had picked out a strapless black bra with a barely there black g-string that she thought would have the desired effect on JJ. With all of her choices selected she made her way to the cashire to check out, asking for all of the items to be gift wrapped before bagging them and heading out to the car to meet JJ and Henry.  
“Are you ready to go?” Emily asked as she approached the car noting that they were already sat in it, Emily was glad JJ had a spare key to her car so they weren’t standing out in the cold in the time between JJ getting Henry changed and now.  
“Yeah let’s go before Henry regains too much energy.” JJ replied, looking back at Henry who was starting to get restless once more.  
Emily chuckled and slid into the driver's seat once more, having already put the bags of shopping in the trunk of the car. The car once again roared into life once more and Emily soon had them back on the road, heating and music blasting in equal measures as they headed towards the second to last stop on their mega day out. It was a short drive to the indoor play center that Emily had taken Henry to before, knowing he loved it there.  
“KID JUNCTION!!!” Henry cheered as he realized where they were. “Fankoo Emmy.”  
Emily and JJ both smiled at him as Emily pulled into the parking lot and found a space close to the entrance. Throwing the car in park and switching off the engine, all three of them hopped out, JJ holding onto Henry to make sure he didn’t run off in his excitement. Emily made it to the doors first and pulled them open to let JJ and Henry go first.  
As soon as Henry was in the door and Emily had paid, his shows were off and he was instantly making his way over to the soft play area to find the ball pit he loved so much. Emily and JJ watched him go before they settled themselves in the cafe area where they could keep their eyes on him as he played and they had the chance to have a coffee and a sit down. Due to the time of day on the fact it was Christmas Eve Henry had the run of the place to himself but he was smart enough to avoid the ‘big kids’ area anyway unless his Mommy was with him.  
“Em I…” JJ started, happy that Henry was off playing and not eavesdropping on what they were saying. “I just… I mean… Thank you.” She finished, her face going a dark red color.  
“There’s no need to thank me.” Emily replied, shaking her head. “I’d always spil you if I had the chance.”  
JJ’s face went darker and she bit her lip as her heart started to beat faster as she looked over at Emily. “It’s not just that is it?” JJ asked softly and Emily shook her head.  
“No it’s not.” Emily admitted. “Though is this the time and place to talk about this?”  
“Maybe not but at the same time I’m not sure if we’ll get another chance before it’s too late.” JJ said, sighing and looking around. “There’s no one listening and Henry is out of ear shot so I don’t see why we can’t start talking here and finish the chat later if we need to.”  
“Ok you have a point there.” Emily said. “I guess I just don’t know where to start.”  
“I’ll start then.” JJ replied, moving to sit next to Emily and taking her hands. “Em, you’ve done so much for us today and I can’t thank you enough or ever find a way to repay you.” Tears started to well up in her eyes as her voice started to break. “I’ve also finally allowed myself to admit something to myself that I never thought I would.” She trailed off and looked away, not sure if she was ready to admit it out loud yet even though she was was sure that Emily knew what she was about to say.  
“JJ I…” Emily started to say but was interrupted by Henry running over to them.  
“Mommy come pay!” He said, skidding a little as he almost crashed into the table. “Pees!” He added when JJ gave him a pointed look.  
“Henry you just interrupted our conversation.” JJ said, a warning tone in her voice. “But yes I will come and play with you in a minute.”  
Henry shuffled his feet and looked downwards. “Sowwee Mommy, Sowwee Emmy.” He said still not looking up them.  
Emily smiled and pulled him up onto her lap. “It’s ok buddy, me and Mommy can finish talking later.” She said and ruffled his hair. “Though why don’t you want me to come play as well?” She feigned a look of hurt before grinning and tickling him, causing him to squirm in her arms.  
“No oo pay too!” Henry insisted, sliding off of Emily’s lap and tugging on her hand. “Mommy and Emmy pay!”  
JJ and Emily both found themselves being dragged over to the play area by Henry, both women had to pause for a moment to pull their shoes off but Henry simply sighed at them and ran off ahead, starting to climb up to one of the slides that ended in a huge ball pool and was one of his favourites to go down.  
“Henry wait for us!” JJ called, almost falling over as she pulled her boots off. “You can’t go down that slide on your own.”  
“Fast den Mommy!” Henry called back, stopping part way up to the top of the slide and looking down at them through the barriers.  
“I thought this was supposed to tire him out.” JJ muttered to Emily as they both started to climb up behind him.  
“He’s your son.” Emily muttered back. “We should have known that he wouldn’t tire easily.”  
JJ rolled her eyes and they kept climbing up, now not far behind Henry who had started to move again. For such a small boy he was incredibly fast when it came to climbing and JJ kind of regretted allowing him to drag them up here. Of course her son would want to go on one of the tallest slides in the entire place, it was the same thing she did as a child so she should have expected it really.  
“Me and Emmy go ones!” Henry said as they reached the top, pulling on Emily’s hand to make sure she was stood next to him.  
“Ok you can go first with Emily but you have to wait for me at the bottom ok? Then we’ll all come back up together.” JJ said, looking to Emily who nodded.  
“Of course, we can’t leave Mommy all by herself can we Henry?” She grinned, settling herself at the opening to the slide and waiting for Henry to sit on her lap.  
“Wait fo Mommy.” Henry said seriously, nodding his head as he sat down and took hold of Emily’s legs for support, in response Emily put her arms around his middle to make sure he didn’t go sliding off without her.  
“Ready?” Emily asked Henry who nodded. “Ok, one, two, three, go!” She said before she wiggled a little to make them go and JJ could hear Henry squealing in delight all the way down.  
She waited until she heard the tell tell, sploosh of plastic balls to indicate that Emily and Henry had made it to the bottom before she went flying down it herself, giggling as she hit the balls herself. She all but swam to the side and looked around for Emily and Henry but didn’t see them.  
“Henry!” JJ called, trying not to sound angry with him. “Henry what did I…” She was about finish her lecture to seemingly no one when Emily snuck up behind her and tickled her as Henry started to hit her with balls, trying his best to bury his Mommy in the ball pool. The words died on JJ’s lips as she dissolved into fits of laughter, grabbing Emily and tickling her back, almost forgetting where they were as she leaned in to kiss her but a well timed, and aimed, throw from Henry hit her square on the side of her head and diverted her attention back to him. “Why you little…” She grinned and started to throw balls back at, Emily joining in as well until it turned into a free-for-all, every person for themselves.  
The three of them finally collapsed in a pile, each of them trying to catch their breath as they fought off the giggles none of them could seem to get rid of. Emily was secretly pleased they had the place to themselves as she was sure they wouldn’t have been able to do that otherwise and seeing JJ happy, hearing her laugh was so important to Emily she didn’t think she could have it any other way. JJ looked at her watch and saw the time, she sighed as she saw it was already 6pm and normally she’d be starting to think about making Henry dinner and settling him down for the night. She was going to tell Emily but it was Christmas Eve and she didn’t want the fun to end.  
“What’s up JJ?” Emily questioned, noting the look on JJ’s face that normally meant the blonde was having some kind of internal war with herself.  
JJ bit her lip and shook her head, her mind made up, Henry was having so much fun and she was enjoying being out with Emily and she didn’t want it to end. “Nothing, I’m ok, don’t worry.” She smiled and looked around for Henry who had climbed out of the ball pool and was making his way around to the stairs leading up to the slide a second time. “Come on we better go catch up with the endless ball of energy I call my Son.” She added and climbed out as well, Emily close behind her.  
Twenty minutes and countless goes down the slide later and Henry was finally showing signs of slowing down. JJ silently thanked whoever up there may be listening and scooped him up, carrying him back to the cafe area where she ordered them each a drink. Emily joined them and automatically slid into the chair next to JJ, resting one hand on her knee as she used the other to drink her coffee. Henry was all but asleep on JJ’s lap now, drinking slowly out of his sippy cup that he only asked for at bedtime now so JJ figured it was time to pack up and head home, maybe persuading Emily to stop off at McDonalds for the second time that day so Henry could have something to eat before JJ put him to bed.  
“I think it’s time to head home.” Emily said, not realizing that she had simply said ‘home’ and not referred to it as ‘JJ’s home’. She shrugged the thought off and smiled. “Looks like this little guy is all Christmased out for the day.”  
JJ nodded and smiled, slowly standing up so as not to stir Henry too much. “Yeah think he’s finally pooped.” She whispered, shifting Henry to her hip and holding her hand out for Emily to take.  
Emily slipped her hand into JJ’s smiling at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as they made their way back out to her car, thanking the staff members as they left. As soon they were back in the car, Emily turned the heating up once more and let the car defrost a little before she started to back out of the parking lot.  
“Em this has been the best day I’ve had in such a long time.” JJ said, after a few minutes of silent driving. “I don’t want it to end.” She admitted quietly to herself, unsure if Emily had heard her.  
“It doesn’t have to.” Emily replied without thinking. She blushed and backtracked a little. “I mean, I have one last thing planned for us to do but we may want to drop Henry off at home first, I’ve already text Garcia and she said she’s more than happy to watch him for a few hours, so long as we bring her back a drink after.”  
JJ stared at Emily with mild shock on her face. “But Em, you’ve done so much for us already.” JJ was gearing up to protest yet another surprise for her but the look on Emily’s face stopped her. “I mean, I’d like that and remind me to thank Garcia when we get home.” It was JJ’s turn to call her house ‘home’ not ‘my home’, it just felt natural to JJ, even when talking to Emily about it and both of them going there.  
“She said she’ll meet us there and there had better be wine in the fridge for her when she gets there.” Emily said, chuckling a little as she checked her texts at the stop light.  
JJ rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Tell her there’s at least four bottles in the fridge and I want at least two left when we get home tonight but she’s welcome to let herself in and make herself comfy, I’m not sure how long it’ll take us to get home, you’re the one that’s driving.”  
Emily simply tossed her phone in JJ’s lap and JJ picked it up and started typing out the text for Emily. “Tell her we’ll be about another forty five minutes or so.” She said, glancing at the GPS on the dashboard. “Maybe a hour if the traffic is bad heading back into town.”  
JJ nodded and finished writing the message, she hit send and got a reply almost instantly. “It’s five bottles and of course I’ll leave her at least two, see you guys in a while.” She read aloud, howling with laughter. “Trust Pen to have already let herself in, what’s the betting we get back and she’s either in the bath or not long out of it?”  
Emily laughed at the reply and shook her head. “That’s our Pen, and I highly doubt she didn’t text you from the bath already.” She added. “Something tells me she let herself in when I first text her to as her to babysit almost an hour ago.”  
“That’s probably true, though I swear I told her that key was for emergencies only?” JJ said and, as if Garcia was listening to their conversation Emily’s phone chimed. “Yes babysitting and drinking wine in the bath on Christmas Eve counts as an emergency, do you want the pictures to prove it?” She read and almost choked on the the last few words.  
Emily started howling with laughter and had to pull over to the side of the road to get it all out. “Well that answers that question doesn’t it?” She said between laughs as she tried to catch her breath at the same time. “Honestly JJ what did you expect from her? She’s Henry’s Godmother for one and for another well, she’s our best friend, some form of inappropriate comments are required from time to time.” She finished once she had calmed down a little. “But hey if she’s offering sexy bath time pics I won’t say no.” She tried to say it with a straight face but seeing the look on JJ’s face caused her to crack and start laughing once more. “Oh my God Jayje lighten it was a joke.” JJ glared playfully at her and punched her on the arm.  
“And for that I’m going to text her and tell her that you want to lick cream off her unmentionables.” JJ smirked, frantically typing a message to Garcia before Emily snatched it from her hands.  
“The only person I want to do that to is you.” Emily blurted out and instantly covered her mouth with her hand. “Did I? Uh? Did I say that out loud?” Her face went scarlet as JJ nodded, biting her lip smirking at her.  
“Oh yes you did.” JJ grinned and leant over to whisper in her ear. “And if I said I wanted you to?” Emily’s face went even darker as she pulled back, staring at JJ wondering if she was being serious or not.  
Emily squirmed a little and cleared her throat, putting the car back into gear. “We can talk about that later.” She said and started to drive off once more. “And you had better pray Garcia is out the tub by the time we get back, we’ll both want showers, I have new clothes for us to wear.”  
“So that’s what you were doing after you got Henry’s new clothes?” JJ said, smiling over at her and squeezing her hand. “Thank you darling, I’m sure I’ll love whatever you picked out.” She lifted their entwined hands up and kissed the back of Emily’s hand, the safest option while she was still driving but it had the desired effect of making the older brunette blush. 

By the time they had arrived home, JJ had to admit that going out was the last thing on her mind, she wanted to have Emily to herself for the remainder of the evening and maybe all night as well but Emily had seemingly planned this all so carefully she wasn’t really in a position to argue with her. Henry was still sleeping soundly as they pulled into the driveway, Emily throwing the car in park and leaning over to place a sweet kiss on JJ’s lips before they got out of the car and JJ went to get Henry out of his car seat. JJ was cradling him her arms as Emily unlocked the front door and they all trailed in.  
“There’s my beautiful love birds.” Garcia cooed, grinning as they walked in, Emily’s arm round JJ’s middle as they did. “Well it’s about damn time you two.”  
“Garcia I can still cut you off from my wine stash.” JJ said with a playful warning tone in her voice causing Garcia to throw her hands up in surrender and back off her teasing, taking Henry from JJ and carrying him up to his room.  
By the time she came back, Emily had poured the three of them a glass of wine each and had settled herself on the couch, JJ had taken her glass with her up to the bathroom and was currently showering in preparation for whatever what coming next.  
Garcia smiled as she settled herself next to Emily and looked over at her. “So come on then, have you told her?” She asked, not bothering to tiptoe around the subject.  
“Not in so many words.” Emily said, blushing a little. “But we have kissed a few times today and oh Pen…” She paused for a moment as the memory of their first kiss earlier that day came floating back to her. “It was perfect, her kisses were everything I imagined and more.”  
“So what’s the problem? Why haven’t you told her yet? She obviously likes you back, she wouldn’t have let you kiss her if she didn’t.” Garcia’s brow was raised now as she looked at the brunette sat opposite her.  
“I just haven’t found the right time or place yet, I’ll tell her at dinner.” Emily said, taking a sip of her wine. “I will!” She added, seeing the look on Garcia’s face.  
Before Garcia had a chance to come up with some form of witty and sarcastic reply JJ had come back down, with the dress on that Emily had picked out for her, dark blue stilettos swinging from her fingers as she walked into the room. Emily’s mouth fell open as she spotted JJ, she let out a low whistle and stood up to walk over to her.  
“Wow, you look wow.” That was all Emily could think of to say as she hugged JJ.  
Garcia was still sat on the couch smirking as she watched the two agents interact with each other, seemingly oblivious to anyone else in the room. She let out a cough and both of them looked round at her blushing.  
“I better go and get ready or we’ll be late.” Emily said after a while, honestly she didn’t want to let JJ go but her hair was now a mess and she desperately wanted a shower.  
“Well I don’t need to direct you to my bathroom.” JJ said, grinning a little and with that Emily kissed her cheek and made her way up to the bathroom.  
JJ rolled her eyes and settled herself in Emily’s vacant seat on the couch, emptying her wine glass in one mouthful before setting on the floor at her feet. Garcia was sat watching her curiously, trying to read JJ’s body language had become almost as hard as reading Emily nowadays and she blamed the brunette fully for that. Before Emily had come along and the two women had started spending all of their spare time together JJ had been pretty much an open book and Garcia had always taken great pleasure in reading her thoughts and feelings at her own leisure but now she was finding it harder to tell what the tall, blonde was thinking.  
“And now she wants to take me out just the two of us…” JJ said, looking over at her.  
Garcia hadn’t been listening to a word JJ said but smiled and nodded. “Yeah she’s spoilt you really hasn’t she?” She commented, hoping that there wasn’t some form of question buried in what JJ had said to her. “Has she even given you guys your Christmas presents yet?”  
“If she hasn’t I may well kill her.” JJ commented. “Seriously Pen, haven’t you been listening? She’s spoiled us both so much already, I have no idea how I can ever repay her, I only got her a necklace and earrings.”  
“Well I can’t tell you what she’s got you just in case but I can tell you for sure that she’ll love what you’ve got her regardless of how much you did or didn’t spend on it.” Garcia said, trying to soothe her. “I also highly doubt she’ll have left you with nothing to open tomorrow morning.”  
“Well I guess… Wow!” JJ’s thought process was interrupted as Emily appeared at the foot of the stairs in her navy pants suit, kitten heels just visible under the hem of her pants leg, almost seamlessly joining one to the other. Garcia looked around and saw what, or rather who, had distracted JJ and just smiled as JJ practically ran over to Emily and scooped her up in her arms. Emily squealed and kicked her legs out behind her. “JJ put me down.” She giggled and JJ obliged, making sure that the shorter woman was stable on her feet before letting her go.  
“Let’s go.” Emily breathed, leaning up to whisper in JJ’s ear who nodded, lost for words as her mind started to race with possibilities of where the rest of the night may lead for her.  
A wave of their hands in farewell to Garcia and the women were out of the door and on their way to the restaurant. Emily was still holding her hand close to her chest and refusing to tell JJ where they were headed even going so far as to blindfold her so she couldn’t track which way they turned at each junction. After half an hour Emily finally pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and turned of the ignition, she got out and walked around to the other side of the car to help JJ out and put her arm around the blonde’s middle as they walked towards the door.  
“Table for two under the name Prentiss.” Emily said as a well dressed man approached them with menus in hand and smiling at them.  
“Ah Miss Prentiss, yes right this way your usual booth is prepared for you, would you like your normal bottle of wine brought to the table?” The Gentleman said, motioning towards a small booth in the corner of the restaurant.  
“That would be lovely thank you.” Emily replied, still holding onto JJ and leading her towards the booth, weaving in and out of the tables as they went.  
“Em can I take this blindfold off yet?” JJ asked, clinging to Emily a little as they walked.  
“Oh uh yeah, sorry.” Emily said, reaching up and pulling the blindfold away as they reached the booth. “Welcome to my little slice of heaven.” 

“This is amazing Em.” JJ said, looking around the restaurant. “I’ve wanted to get in here for years but it’s always booked up.”  
Emily smiled knowingly as they both sat down and the waiter returned with the bottle of wine. She thanked him as he poured them each a glass and set the bottle down on the table. The waiter nodded and retreated, leaving them to look at the menus and decide what they wanted to eat.  
“So is this living up to expectations?” Emily asked as she took a sip of her wine.  
JJ nodded, glancing up at her from the menu. “Everything I expected and more.” She smiled. “All day I have been surprised and spoiled by you and it has gone above and beyond anything I could have expected or hoped for. I’ve loved every minute of it.”  
“I’m glad you’ve had a good day.” Emily said, swallowing a little as she felt her mouth go dry. JJ looked curiously at her, making her even more nervous as she tried to find the words to put her feelings into. “Jennifer, I…”  
“Are you ladies ready to order?” The waiter came back, causing Emily to jump and look up at him. “I can give you a few more minutes if you’d like?”  
Both women nodded and he left, Emily looked back JJ, clearing her throat once more. “Jennifer there’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, the timing just never seemed right what with us working together and Will then Henry being born…” She trailed off looking down at the table as JJ reached over and took her hand. “JJ I love you, I’ve been in love with you since the first time I saw you and I…”  
“Emily I love you more than anything else in the world.” JJ said, cutting in. “I should never have married Will, the only good thing that came of that was Henry and that is the only thing I wouldn’t change for the world. I’m sorry I never told you before, I was scared to admit how I feel about you, I thought my parents would never accept it and that had always been enough to stop me but when I heard Henry telling Santa, Em that was when I knew I had to tell you.”  
“Be mine.” Emily said simply, she wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement but for the first time today she felt a sort of conviction that left little room for anyone to argue with her.  
“I think I always have been.” JJ replied and she had been, she just hadn’t realised it until today. “Emily honey, if we had had this conversation three years ago then chances are we’d probably be married today and maybe even have a Henry of our own.” She wasn’t sure why she suddenly felt the need to say all of this to Emily but seeing the look in the other woman’s eyes she knew it was the right thing to do.  
“Marry me?” Emily blurted out, the words leaving her mouth like a freight train all but crashing into each other as they fell from her lips.  
Tears ran down JJ’s cheeks as she nodded, she had been dreaming of this for years but she never thought it would ever happen, not her and Emily. Emily grinned and leant over the table to kiss JJ passionately, her kiss met with equal passion as she slid her Grandmother’s diamond engagement ring from her finger and onto JJ’s. The two of them broke the kiss and JJ looked down at the ring now on her finger.  
“Em it’s beautiful thank you.” She smiled and leaned in to kiss her once more.  
The rest of the evening passed with them talking happily about everything from their childhoods to looking to the future, they were the last ones to leave the restaurant, Emily paying the bill without showing JJ and then taking her arm and leading her back to the car. They drove home happily and in a comfortable silence, they had already made plans for Emily to start moving her stuff into JJ’s house in the new year, all they had to do was tell Henry and the team starting with Garcia who squealed and hugged them both, instantly starting to make plans for the wedding. Emily and JJ left her planning and they headed up to bed, both them happy and exhausted from the day.  
“Night Em.” JJ said as they both settled themselves in JJ’s bed, Emily tucking herself into JJ’s side and JJ kissed her softly. “This has been the best day ever, thank you for making it memorable for all the right reasons.”  
“You’re welcome.” Emily replied, already half asleep as she returned the kiss. “I love you.”  
“I love you too.” JJ said, snuggling down and falling asleep happily. Her final thoughts filled with Emily and Henry as she slept with a smile on her face, the woman she loved more than anything in her arms.


End file.
